Arpentage

Fashion (2024)

The starting point is a fictional meeting of the Fashion Revolution movement.

What initially appears to be an internal discussion gradually opens up into a public situation: the presence of a journalist, her media work, and an unexpected artistic intervention expose the movement’s self-image, strategies, and contradictions. The audience does not remain mere witnesses but becomes part of the unfolding event.

As the piece progresses, the focus shifts from outward representation to a shared engagement with consumption, responsibility, and possibilities for action.

Drawing on Alec Leach’s book « The World Is On Fire But We Still Buying Shoes » , a space for reflection, exchange, and shared responsibility emerges beneath a collectively held tent.

Credits

Direction and Dramaturgy:
Ketty Ghnassia

Artistic Collaboration:
Noah Engweiler and Lukas Kubik

Created by and with:
Members of the Fashion Revolution movement:
Kishana Kinashi, Corinna Mattner, Jamil Mokhtar;
Noah Engweiler (krilp),
Sarina Höppner (Network of Young Journalists),
Lukas Kubik and Sabina Winkler

Scenography and Costumes:
Sabina Winkler

Production Management:
Lukas Kubik

Supported by:
City of Zurich Department of Culture, Migros Culture Percentage, Cassinelli-Vogel Foundation, Ernst Göhner Foundation, Corymbo Foundation

A production by cie la mêlée, in co-production with Konzeptbüro and Rote Fabrik, and in cooperation with Theater Neumarkt

With special thanks to Lea Whitcher, Sabina Winkler, Kathrin Walde, and the project #carecity_stories for the loan of their scenography

About the process-based theatre work ARPENTAGE

Arpentage — roughly translated as « surveying » or « mapping » — is a practice that combines the proletarian reading circle with political action. It originated within the socialist movement in France, where workers’ associations and trade unions were looking for ways to educate themselves politically together without slipping into academic inertia. Reading was meant to function as empowerment at the same time: a tool for shaping political reality.

The Arpentage project translates this principle into the present day and into the context of theatre.